CASE STUDIES
Recs Plus Case Study
PRODUCTS
NJ Police Reporting System (PRS)
RecsPlus Care Management Program (RECS)
RecsPlus Case Study

Background:

Respite care is a priority need for many families. An application was created for the Middlesex County Office on Aging to record and manage the care services rendered to clients, in an organized manner. This application, Recs, allowed respite care managers to keep track of clients, client vouchers, client services, as well as, the agencies and assessors serving their clients. This new system, however, was neither perfect nor was it very efficient. Problems with the application occurred during attempts to communicate the client information between the different departments. For example, one care manager working on the Client file would not be able to access the Vouchers file, and vice versa. This arrangement of the files allowed for operator errors, and duplicate information. Also, the original application, Recs, lacked a variety of reports that were to become significant additions in Recs Plus.

Solution

To correct these problems, a method to a system was developed. The files were merged into a newly designed, centralized Access database. Consistency and reliability of data input and retrieval was facilitated through a user-friendly interface. Once the information tables were accessible through the application interface, direct access and operator errors were eliminated. Those without administrative access would be able to view the entire database, but would be unable to change information, except for the information in their department.

Six reports, complimentary to the application were created:

  • Client Expenditures
  • Vendor Analysis
  • Reassessment Report
  • Respite Billing Report
  • Assessor Analysis Report

The capability to search for clients and vouchers was developed to assist users in efficiently locating relevant information. Care managers now had the ability to obtain lists of services rendered to clients, as well as, controlling these services on a client basis. In Recs Plus care managers were given the added capabilities of recording and retrieving payments, storing information per budget year, assigning multiple services to one voucher, granting or restricting access to users within the system, and maintaining a Budget per Agency per year. Later, it became necessary to convert from Access to SQL 2000 server in order to eliminate corruptions and provide a better more robust backend server.

General Application Architecture


Enhancements

After the success of the Middlesex County Respite Care Services, Middlesex County's Office on Aging had a growing need for an improved centralized client database, including additional care management programs. Recs Plus was developed to meet this need. The new backend provided for better storage of the client information files. Security increased at the database level. Care managers could now share information across programs. File duplicates were eliminated, along with the possibility of care managers using more than one program at any given moment.

Within Recs Plus, five new programs were added to the application:

  • JACC
  • CAP
  • CCPED
  • MCMAP
  • Assisted Living

Also within Recs Plus, the following new reports were compiled:

  • Aging Report
  • Ethnicity Report
  • Termination Report
  • Care Giver Report
  • Active Clients by Time
  • Active Clients by Year
  • Mailing Labels
  • Mcmap Cost Sharing
  • Jacc / Cap Monthly Auth.
  • Jacc / Cap Billing Report
  • Client by Town Report
  • Client Co-pay Report
  • McMap Case Mgm Monthly
  • McMap Services Report
Conclusion

Future releases are, as of now, to entail the incorporation of I&A into Recs Plus. This release will exist as an independent module, essentially utilizing the same central database used to enhance the original Respite Care Services client information program.